With just 15 games left in the season, barring an early playoff clinch, there was a solid chance that Antti Niemi was set to receive his last start in a Canadiens uniform on Thursday night as he faced his former team, the San Jose Sharks.

We’ve all heard the stories; the Canadiens hadn’t won in San Jose since Jesperi Kotkaniemi was but a glint in his parents’ eyes, but this edition of the Canadiens is a lot different to those of yesteryear.

They can skate with the best teams in the NHL, just as we saw in the first six minutes of the game, the majority of which were spent in the Sharks’ zone. As long as they received half decent goaltending, they were off to a great start.

Cue the Jaws theme song.

Enter Antti Niemi.

By allowing two incredibly weak goals in just a few minutes, Niemi completely destroyed any momentum, and worse, rewarded the Canadiens’ hard work by handing them a two-goal deficit. It’s worth...